Chris Harrison is back in the public eye after parting ways with ABC and The Bachelor franchise in 2021 amid his Rachel Lindsay's racism scandal response. After two years of silence, the former host is showing that he’s not afraid to speak his mind. On his new podcast The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever, Harrison has pulled no punches regarding ABC, taking aim at The Bachelor’s ratings and weighing in on Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes’ drama. In a recent episode, he even addressed the rumors that the network is considering bringing him back to the longtime reality dating series, saying it would be “crazy” if those talks aren’t happening.
In the episode “Dramatic STori’s,” Chris Harrison and guest Tori Spelling discussed some of the hottest headlines, including recent rumors that ABC executives were having internal meetings about re-hiring the disgraced host to help with falling ratings. Not only did Harrison say that’s likely true, he explained why he’d be surprised if it weren’t. In his words:
The real story that broke was internal conversations are being had by ABC executives about bringing me back. Do I think these conversations have happened? Probably. And here’s why: I think it would almost be crazy not to. If you’re running a business, any business at all, and that business' sales are down 50 to 60 percent and falling — and everybody can see the numbers, we know what’s happening — and you think there’s something that could change that and fix that? Of course you’re going to have that conversation. You would be crazy not to have that conversation.
Chris Harrison argued that with declining revenue, any business organization is going to consider all options to reverse that trend. That would seemingly include, in this instance, replacing Jesse Palmer with his predecessor. Harrison went on to cite the success so far of his podcast as another factor that might be enticing to ABC. He continued:
With the advent of this podcast, The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever, they’ve seen the numbers. They’ve seen the response in my social media. They’re not deaf to all of that. They’ve seen what’s happening. So am I shocked these conversations are happening? No. It would not be a surprise. In fact, I would be shocked if they weren’t happening.
Whether or not Chris Harrison would want to return to the franchise is “the multi-million dollar question on the table,” according to the host. He said he’d “never say never,” but the situation between him and ABC remains “complicated.”
While he’s not wrong that The Bachelor and its spinoffs have seen steadily declining ratings, that’s true for all of network television with the increasing number of viewers “cutting the cord” from cable and satellite use. I also question how much the show’s host would influence such ratings anyway, as Jesse Palmer — and Harrison before him — don’t actually appear in the episodes very much.
I'd assume the series’ lead and contestants likely have much more ability to sway its viewing audience, and even though there were concerns that Season 27’s Zach Shallcross would be boring, that’s seemingly been contradicted by social media followers who are charmed and amused by his dad jokes. Some are even saying he may just be the perfect Bachelor. Tune in to see for yourself, as The Bachelor airs at 8 p.m. ET Mondays on ABC and is available for streaming with a Hulu subscription the next day.
